Trump 2nd term live updates: Trump defends tariffs, declines to comment on Ukraine aid

President Donald Trump on Thursday again suggested the United States may not defend NATO allies if they don't meet spending targets.

A reporter asked Trump in the Oval Office, "Are you going to make that policy, U.S. policy, that the U.S. wouldn't defend NATO countries that don't pay?"

"Well, I think it's common sense, right?" Trump responded. "If they don't pay, I'm not going to defend them. No, I'm not going to defend them. I got into a lot of heat when I said that. You said, oh, he's violating NATO."

A core tenet of NATO is Article 5, which states that member nations pledge to treat an attack against one as an attack on them all. Trump went on to question if European allies would abide by that component of the treaty.

"You know the biggest problem I have with NATO -- I really, you know, I mean, I know the guys very well. They're friends of mine. But if the United States was in trouble and we called them, we said, we got a problem, France. We got a problem, a couple of others I won't mention. Do you think they're going to come and protect us? They're supposed to. I'm not so sure."

In fact, NATO's Article 5 clause has been invoked only once, and that was on September 12, 2001-- the day after Al Qaeda killed almost 3,000 people on American soil. After 20 years of war, most of those killed in the coalition were American, but well over 1,000 of them were international partners.

When asked whether he is negotiating with terrorists, President Donald Trump said the United States is "having discussions with Hamas" in order to help Israel.

"You have to negotiate. There's a difference between negotiating and paying," the president said, emphasizing that he is "not giving cash" to Hamas.

Trump threatened on Wednesday that there will be "hell to pay" if Hamas does not release "all" of the Israeli hostages, saying this was Hamas' "last warning."

The exemptions on automobiles from the president's tariffs was a one-time thing, Trump told reporters.

"I told them, 'That's it,'" Trump claimed.

"They said, 'Could we have some help on the tariffs because of the speed?' And I said, 'Look, I'm going to do it.' But then said, 'Don't come back to me after the April 2. I don't want to hear from you," he added.

Trump convened his Cabinet members and Elon Musk for a meeting on Thursday, where the president told the head of agencies they are in charge of their departments.

"We had a great meeting," Trump said, adding it was about "cutting" the workforce.

"I said, I want the Cabinet members go first, keep all the people you want, everybody that you need," he said. "But I want them to do the best job they can where we have good people because that's precious, that's very important and we want them to keep the good people. And so, we're going to be watching them and Elon and the group, we're going to be watching them. And if they can cut, it's better. And if they don't cut, then Elon will do the cutting."